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Wow…What a Hiatus!!! I apologise very sincerely for not blogging for so many weeks. I’ll be honest- I lost my blogging mojo temporarily due to work and various other kids stresses! I won’t bore you with the gorey details but I’m back now with a bang! Today’s post is on my troubles with finding the perfect nude liquid lipsticks!

Now, being a person of colour, I have come to accept that not every nude lipstick works well for me! It can actually be quite hard to find the right nude for a lot of us and being totally frank a lot of the ever popular Kylie Jenner style mauve/pinky/ browny nudes are the exact same colour as my top lip! This results in it looking like it looking distinctly like I’m wearing concealer on my lips if i just plonk it on! Another issue I face is that my lips are actually quite different in colour. My top lip is darker- that sort of pinky mauvey brown I mentioned earlier, but then my bottom lip has is a lot more red/pink in it- this is also common if people with mixed or darker skins. It can make it difficult for nudes to work well also! But, have no fear people- there is a way for it to work!

I have bought tried and tested so many nudes – I’ve built up quite a collection over the past year or so in search of the right nude!

I was determined to make it work and to find the right lipstick for me, and after trialing testing and gleaning information from all sorts of people in the know- I found out how to rock almost any nude regardless of skin or lip colour.

Lip Liner is key!

So, sticking to this fundamental rule makes it possible to wear almost any nude. Always use a liner. If you feel like the colour your wearing is too light or too contrasting for your skin tone you can try using a darker liner or even a darker shade of lipstick round the outside of your lips. This offers a contrast to your skin tone and the colour! You can even ombré the two colour together beautifully- this works particularly well if your bottom and top lips are different colours like mine are.

It’s all about finding the right liner for your colouring and for what your trying to achieve. Kylie Jenner ‘Lip kits’ are so expensive because the come with a liner as well as a liquid lipstick- but my beef with that is, the liner which comes with the kit (which is nice and creamy in texture to be fair but not dissimilar to the Colourpop liners) is the EXACT same colour as the actual lipstick. This is great for someone wanting to over line their lips to make them appear fuller but no good for someone like me who already has full lips and darker skin and thus needing to break the colour up from the skin tone. If you already have full lips, nudes will make them look even fuller- which can be a blessing or a curse whichever way you look at it! Personally I like to use a liner a shade or two darker than whatever colour I’m applying to break it up a bit.

The liners I always use are MAC Chestnut, MAC Stone or Whirl. I’ve also heard a lot of people with fairer complexions like to use MAC Soar or MAC Spice to line their lips with. These are all nice brown shades,-Stone is a very cool grey toned liner, Chestnut is an intense neutral brown and Whirl, Soar and spice are more mid toned pinky or mauve browns! I find they work best to break up my lips and skin tone!

My all time favourite nudes for colour, longevity and texture (with swatches from left to right and links) are:

Can you tell I like my cool toned nudes? I find they suit me better- I’m not actually sure why? I guess it’s because I have a very warm, yellow undertone to my skin and cool tones are contrasting? I dunno but anyway they seem to work for me!

What nudes do you like? Warm, or cool? What are your favourite lipsticks and why! Do you have any hints or tips on choosing the perfect nude for you? Let me know!